An Attack that’s too low might over-react to momentary jumps in sound, while an Attack that’s too high might miss the first parts of louder sounds as they come up. You can boost makeup gain by 4-6 dB, but pay close attention to the resulting sound and whether you’re hitting the sweet spot of -12 to -6 db.Īttack: Attack refers to how quickly the compressor turns on once the audio signal breaches the Threshold, measured in milliseconds. You can also choose to add gain to the Dry mix (the sound before it’s processed) or the Wet mix (after compression), but here we’re adding it on the Wet mix. Makeup Gain: It can be helpful to add back in some gain to your podcast audio after reducing the louder sounds (and therefore lowering the average dB level of your podcast).
#COMPRESSION SETTINGS FOR MASTERING TRIAL#
A good range for Ratio is between 3:1 and 5:1, but it may take some trial and error to get right. Ratios are written like 3:1, which can be read as “for every 3 dB that the signal is above the Threshold, the output will only go 1 dB above the Threshold.” We can think of ratio as a sort of lasso, pulling back the sound as it goes above our Threshold, but not entirely stopping it from going over. Ratio: Ratio is one of the two main settings, along with Threshold, that determines how strongly your compressor reacts to hot sounds. 16 dB is usually a good starting place, or around -10 dB if your signal is already quite loud.
If you feel it’s making your sound too muffled or strained, raise it. If you want a more active compressor, make this lower.
Threshold: This is the volume level at which the compressor starts kicking in. Here are terms you’ll see in almost any compressor plugin you come across, in order of importance: The plugins we call compressors, like equalizers, look different depending on their make and how complex of a plugin they’re meant to be. Let’s dig into how we should use compressors. Compression is crucial for achieving a consistent, pleasant sound, one that doesn’t have surprising jumps in volume. For a listener listening to the podcast with high-quality headphones, the difference in volume at different parts may be unpleasant enough that they stop listening to your episode. Maybe you add some EQ to your mix, and then you post the episode.Ī listener consuming your podcast in a car might hear this audio and jump to turn down the volume. In post production, you’ll see the waveform get huge at the points of laughter (and in some cases you’ll see the waveform “clip” at the top and create distortion), and at other points the audio will look tiny. They also might forget to stay in front of the mic at all times when they’re talking. If that person isn’t a trained radio personality (and they likely won’t be), they might not remember to avoid laughing into their microphone. Perhaps you run a weekly interview podcast, where you interview a business expert for an hour about their work and industry knowledge. Let’s think about what a podcast that doesn’t use compression might sound like. Why you need Compression on your podcastĬompression is essential for having a professional-sounding podcast, which in turn will get you more listeners. There are a number of settings in a compressor plugin that we’ll go through in moment, but first let’s look at why we must have compression in our podcast audio.
The human voice has a large range, and compressors help us prepare our podcast audio so that listening to that range of sounds, everything from whispering to people laughing, is an enjoyable experience. With compression, your podcast’s loudest sounds are pulled closer to its quietest sounds, as measured by dB. What Compression isĬompression is what it sounds like: it’s a tool that compresses your audio so that it has a smaller dynamic range.
#COMPRESSION SETTINGS FOR MASTERING HOW TO#
Today we’re explaining what compression is, why it’s important for creators to use it in every podcast episode, and how to apply it to your podcast. To get a great podcast sound, you need to use processing tools like compressors. Natural-sounding podcast audio from outlets like NPR and Gimlet Media is anything but natural. A lot of the work of finishing your podcast once you’ve recorded it is making it sound better without the audience ever realizing you’ve changed anything.